The invention of the present application relates to a compact crusher apparatus for crushing containers, especially beverage containers such as aluminum cans and two-liter plastic bottles.
With the increased interest in environmental concerns, the steadily decreasing capacity of sanitary landfills, and the dwindling of natural resources, it is increasingly important to recycle or, at minimum, to greatly compress the volume of generated trash. Many communities have adopted mandatory recycling programs and voluntary recycling of reusable materials is at an all time high. The huge volume of beverage containers generated from these recycling operations must be compressed to enable their economical transport to recycling centers and factories. Heretofore, beverage containers have generally been transported to regional recycling centers in an uncompacted condition where they are crushed in large, industrial-sized compactors. This entails many more trips to these recycling centers than would be necessary if the containers could be crushed prior to their transport.
Ordinary kitchen-type trash compactors have been used for domestic crushing of recyclable beverage containers, however, they generally employ a linear-type crushing action which is unsuitable for complete compaction of cans and plastic bottles. Other compactors have been either hand-operated, and thus too small and slow for the efficient compaction of relatively large numbers of containers, or, conversely, large and unwieldy mechanized crushers which are not practical for small scale domestic or institutional use.
It is clear then, that a need exists for a compact, reliable, and economical beverage container crusher for domestic or institutional use. It is also clear that such a crusher should be simple and safe to operate.